


Healing for You

by Greeneyesblue



Series: For You [1]
Category: House M.D.
Genre: Alternate Universe - Sentinels and Guides Are Known, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-09
Updated: 2017-06-09
Packaged: 2018-11-12 04:11:38
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 14,641
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11153982
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Greeneyesblue/pseuds/Greeneyesblue
Summary: The world Dr. Robert Chase knew as a bonded guide abruptly fell apart. He was surprised when a man he thought incapable of selfless action reached out to help him heal.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Warning: A sentinel uses a sexual situation with a consenting third party to expose a guide to unwanted emotions with the intention of causing them distress. No graphic descriptions.
> 
> So many thanks to the amazing [Jlencre](https://archiveofourown.org/users/JLencre/pseuds/JLencre) for the beta!

 

 

House was the first to say something. “You know she’s cheating on you, right?”

It was typical House, spoken coldly in front of his peers in the conference room in the middle of a patient assessment. Afterward, he would wonder if others had known and House had been the only one bold enough to say something, but in the moment Doctor Robert Chase was frozen where he stood writing on the whiteboard. Behind him he heard his bondmate and sentinel, Allison Cameron, scoff.

“That's ridiculous. We're bonded, House. How could that even happen?”

“Well, Cameron, it’s simple. You fuck someone that isn't our dear wombat.”

Allison looked disgusted at House’s crass language. “I didn't mean literally. I meant how would that even be possible for anyone in a bonded pair to accomplish without the other person knowing?”

“Ooo, now that's the fun part. Well, fun for me to figure out. Not so fun for our jilted guide.” House began slowly spinning in his chair, hands steepled under his chin. “First, the bond probably isn't healthy or complete or both, because Cameron is right; if the bond were healthy, Chase would feel related emotional cues through it at some point.

“Next, my guess is that the person she's sleeping with is either someone she works with closely, so the scent of that person on her wouldn't raise undue interest, or someone not related to the hospital, so no one could ascertain the scent’s significance. Wouldn't want other sentinels sniffing around and getting suspicious.”

Allison glared at House, gesturing toward the white board. “This is ridiculous! We have a patient who needs treatment. Don't you think that's more important than whatever stupid game you're trying to play?”

"Oh, you're concerned about the patient?” House asked mockingly. “I figured out her problem twenty minutes ago.”

Their current case was a teenager who had recently come online as a guide. She mysteriously collapsed at school one day. Chase turned to look at House expectantly, as did Allison and Foreman. House stopped turning his chair and faced them.

“Oh, come on guys. It's the mother! She’s a mundane, and I'd say she doesn't want a guide for a daughter. She's been slowly poisoning her with low doses of gold sodium thiomalate. No sentinel smelled it as a possible source because both mom and daughter wear matching gold earrings, and the scents were too similar to differentiate as being out of place.

“Her symptoms seemed too close to heavy metal poisoning for comfort, so I ran some tests when she first came in and they just came back. I found the bottle of pills in the mom’s purse. She has rheumatoid arthritis, and it was her own prescription. I already ordered treatment and reported her mother to the appropriate authorities. The girl will be fine, eventually.”

House stopped, but no one said a word in the ensuing silence.

“So, back to Chase and Cameron’s thing. Who is it?”

Robert slumped into a chair at the table. He didn't think Cameron could be cheating on him. She was his sentinel. They'd bonded just after they met, and they had been happy since. Well, Cameron seemed happy at least. Being bonded wasn't the easy, wonderful relationship everyone made it out to be, but Chase figured that was just the way it was going to be for him and Allison. Surely he would know if she was doing something like that, wouldn't he?

“What are you talking about, House?” Allison snapped.

“Who are you sleeping with? I mean, it's obviously not Chase. Our little wombat is wound tighter than a banjo string,” House said, affecting an exaggerated southern accent for the last phrase.

Chase would’ve been mad, but it was true. Instead, he just sat there, becoming more and more numb as the facts came together to form a disturbing picture in his mind. Allison had always claimed her senses were well under control, and she didn't need to physically renew the bond often.

Lately, things had been different between them, but Chase had chalked it up to them always having clinic shifts scheduled opposite each other. His own shielding had felt a bit off lately. Maybe it wasn't entirely his fault. Maybe there was something to what House was saying.

He suddenly had to know. He stood and moved toward Cameron quickly, grabbing the exposed skin of her wrist and opening his mind to their bond.

“Is it true?” Chase practically growled.

She didn't respond, but Robert felt disgust pouring off her.

"You don't even feel guilty about it do you?” He whispered, horrified at what was playing out between them – in public, no less.

“What? You expected me to just go along and play house with you the rest of my life? I bonded so I could use my senses better in my career. That's all this was,” Cameron spat. “You didn't think I actually loved you, did you?”

Chase reeled back, stunned at Cameron’s admission. Everyone was silent for a moment. Foreman looked supremely uncomfortable to be witnessing the entire situation. He was a latent guide and was probably almost as horrified at Cameron’s actions toward her bonded guide as Robert himself was.

“Cameron, you're fired,” House broke the silence with his no-nonsense statement.

“Oh, come on, House. Chase will get over it and we'll still be able to work together just fine,” Cameron said dismissively.

“No! You are a poor excuse for a physician who has skated by on enhances senses. I don’t actually think you're good enough to work for me, especially since you'll most likely go dormant when your bond is broken. The only reason I kept you around is because your guide worked for me first, and he's actually smart enough to keep up with me!”

Cameron’s mouth dropped open. “I'm not going to break my bond!”

“You may not, but Chase almost certainly will want to, and I'm going to help him. If I had to guess, I'd say Foreman will encourage him to do the same as well. We’re not going to sit here and watch you abuse a guide this way.” House stood and slammed his cane down on the table. “Get out now,” he said lowly.

Cameron flinched back, but then jumped to her feet. “You can’t do this to me!” she shouted and pointed at House accusingly.

“Do what? Fire you? I can. I’m your boss. Or maybe you mean interfere in your bond? I can do that too, because it’s obviously unhealthy and potentially abusive.” House said, matter of fact. “Now, I told you to leave. I’d suggest you do so before security and every sentinel in the building comes to see what all the commotion is about.”

Cameron huffed in indignation, but turned abruptly and left the room. Robert wasn't sure if she would leave the hospital or go crying to Cuddy about House’s dismissal first, but right now he couldn’t bring himself care.

“Careful, House,” Chase croaked out. “People might think you actually care about me.”

"Then they'd be right, for once.”

The numbness and shock was finally fading, and at House’s words, a sob attempted to escape Chase’s tight chest. He held his fist to his mouth, determined to keep the turmoil of his disastrous bond at bay.

“Let's get him out of here. Maybe to the Center?” Foreman suggested.

House shook his head. “No. I'll take him to a place I know of - somewhere far from her reach. I have a friend who I think can help. A guide.”

Foreman raised his eyebrows in surprise, but he didn't argue.

\- - - - -

Chase woke when the car came to a stop. They had been traveling for a few hours, and he’d fallen asleep not long after leaving Princeton, the emotional revelations of the day taking their toll. House and Foreman had shepherded him out of the hospital and to House’s car right after House had made a quick call to Cuddy to briefly explain.  
  
Then, House had driven him to the home he’d shared with Cameron for the last couple of years. Thankfully, she hadn’t been there. After grabbing a few sets of casual clothes and a jacket to ward off the chilly edge of autumn that was creeping into the air, they’d gone to House’s apartment and done the same. Then they had started driving. Chase felt oddly hollowed out and emotionless, and he couldn’t care enough to ask where he was being taken or what would happen when they got there.  
  
He now found himself staring at an old farmhouse. It was dusk, and he could see the lights of a small town starting to blink on in the distance. Small parcels of wooded land were interspersed with farm fields between the town and their location.  
  
“Pleasant Lake. That’s the name of the town. We’re in upstate New York,” House said when he noticed where Robert was looking.  
  
House opened his door and stood slowly. Robert got out too, and watched as the other man leaned heavily on his cane as he made his way back to the trunk. When Robert made it around the other side of the car and met him there, House had paused to knock back a couple of pills.  
  
“Leg got stiff on the drive?” Robert asked.  
  
“Brilliant diagnosis, Dr. Wombat. Grab the bags, we’re staying.”  
  
Robert smiled slightly as he bent to pull their duffels out of the trunk. At least when everything else in the world had gone to shit, he could rely on House to be his usual, caustic self. They made their way up onto the wide front porch and were greeted by the porch light turning on right before someone opened the door.

A tall man with rugged features but a startlingly sweet smile stood and held the door open for them. House didn't say anything to the man, just walked right in.

“Gregory,” the man said in greeting as House passed him, before looking back to Robert. “C’mon in. Leave your bags wherever for now. Benny’s got food on in the kitchen.”

Robert realized he'd been standing there dumbly since House walked in, and he blinked out of his stupor to step inside the house. After setting down their bags, the other man held out his hand.

“Name’s Eric Fielding, sentinel. You must be Dr. Chase. Greg called ahead and explained your situation. Hopefully we can make things a bit easier for you.”

Robert set down the bags and grabbed Eric’s hand to shake. The moment he made contact a crushing weight of emotion came washing over him. He wouldn't say any of it was negative per se, just too much.

The next thing he knew, he was blinking up at House’s face hovering over him. Robert realized he was sitting on the floor, slumped against the wall in the entry hall.

“Chase? You okay?” House asked.

Before he could respond, a handsome black man with a neatly trimmed beard was kneeling next to him. Robert realized he must be the man Eric had mentioned earlier.

House directed his next question toward him. “Ben, what happened to him?”

Robert got a warm smile from the man. He had a strong, soothing guide aura, and Robert figured he was fairly high level.

“Hi there. We didn't get to do introductions yet. I'm Benedict Fielding. Most people around here call me Ben. I'm this one’s guide,” he said gesturing toward Eric over his shoulder.

The deep voice was soothing in a way and helped Robert regain his focus.

“Hello.” His voice cracked and he cleared his throat. “Robert Chase. Sorry about this.”

“Not your fault, Chase. Definitely not your fault,” House said lowly.

“Well, I think because of the problems with Robert’s bond, he’s experiencing some more extreme touch sensitivity. Do you think that’s about what you experienced?”  
  
Robert cleared his throat again and sat up a bit straighter. “Yeah. I got a wave of emotion, I guess you could call it. Nothing very distinct. It was just so much all at once.”  
  
“Okay. And do you feel like your shields are still in place? Are you getting general emotions from the room?” Ben asked.  
  
“No, my shields feel pretty much like they always have. I’m not getting too much empathic feedback or anything.”  
  
“Alright. Dinner is still hot, so let’s get some food in you, and we can talk about next steps after we eat. Knowing Greg, my guess would be he hasn’t told you much about who we are or why you’re here yet.” Robert shook his head, and Ben chuckled, “just try to avoid skin contact for now.”  
  
House stood, then and braced his weight on his good leg and cane and reached out a hand. Robert carefully gripped his forearm over the sleeve of his shirt and got to his feet mostly under his own power. He appreciated the steady presence of someone familiar though. He’d been feeling off since Cameron had bolted out of the conference room in the hospital earlier that day.  
  
They sat down in the kitchen to a simple but delicious meal. Robert hadn’t realized how hungry he was until the food was in front of him. He was feeling a bit more himself by the time they were finished. He hadn’t participated in conversation, just let the small talk of the other men go on in the background as he ate. He had listened enough to ascertain that House knew Eric and Ben quite well, and they seemed to be catching up on life and news of mutual acquaintances.  
  
Eric stood and started collecting everyone’s dishes, and Robert decided he was ready to learn more.  
  
“So you both know House pretty well then?” he asked.  
  
Ben was the one to respond. “Yes, we’ve known each other for years, but I’ll leave it to Greg to decide what details to tell you. It’s a complicated story.”  
  
House waved a hand in the air absently as he spoke. “Yes, yes. BFFs. Blah, blah, blah. Here we are.”

Ben shot House an exasperated look. “Look, let’s talk through some things first, but if this goes the way I think it will go; Greg, I think you’ll want to fill Robert in on your history.”  
  
House got that closed off look on his face and his eyebrows were drawn together.  
  
“That’s not possible.”  
  
Ben wasn’t fazed by the gruff demeanor. “You’re already operating on borrowed time, Greg. We all know that. One day it’s all going to come out. Maybe it’s time you trusted someone else with it.”  
  
Well, now Robert’s curiosity was piqued, but he didn’t have a chance to dwell on the mystery before House was deliberately drawing attention back to him.  
  
“So Chase’s sentinel is an abusive twat. What are we going to do about it?”  
  
Robert herd Eric chuckle from where he was standing at the sink rinsing dishes. Ben visibly changed gears and turned toward him.  
  
“From what Greg has told us about what he’s seen of your bond and the recent affair, it seems pretty clear that Dr. Cameron is unstable, both in general mental health and as a sentinel. You’ve probably been giving a lot physically and mentally to the bond, and not receiving that back in return. Her behavior, especially the fact that she recently decided to start an affair outside of your bond, is frankly abusive. She’s been using you to prop up her sentinel abilities, and doesn’t respect you as a guide or a person.”  
  
Ben paused, and Robert slumped forward, elbows on the table and head in his hands. He let out a shaky breath.  
  
“You’re not wrong.” Robert looked up and knew his eyes would be wet and red-rimmed. “The moment I realized she was actually having an affair, I saw it all.” He laughed mirthlessly. “I mean, I’m a doctor specializing in sentinel and guide medicine, and I was in denial about how hard it was to function in a bond with her. For years! If I’ve realized anything in the last several hours, it’s that I never had what I thought I had with Cameron.”  
  
The room was silent for a moment before he continued.  
  
“She’s my true sentinel. My fated match. As fucked up as that is, I know that it’s fact. Maybe if she hadn’t been, it would be easier. Maybe I would have seen through all her shit. But she is, and I don’t really know how to go on after this.”  
  
Robert looked over at House then. He was surprised to see emotion in his eyes rather than the unaffected mask he so often wore. It wasn’t compassion or pity. It was probably closer to determination. Determination to do what, Robert didn’t know, but somehow he knew it was for him.  
  
A throat was cleared beside him, and Ben broke into the moment. “Robert, you have options. Eric and I have a history of helping out sentinels and guides in unique situations where the S&G Center might not be appropriate. Out here, with time and space from her, you can break your bond. If that’s what you chose.  
  
“I won’t lie; it won’t be easy,” Ben went on. “The other thing to consider is that we don’t actually know what the result will be. You may recover in time as a fully online guide, you may go dormant, or you may land somewhere in between. Empathically sensitive, return to a latent state, a different level of empathic gifts. We won’t really know until it happens. If you’ll allow it, I’d like to get a read on your level and your empathic shielding.”  
  
Robert nodded and held out a hand. He knew skin contact was easiest for that particular task. Eric returned and stood next to Ben, placing a hand on his shoulder to ground him. Robert was a little concerned about the contact overwhelming him with empathic feedback, but this time he was braced for it.  
  
Ben gently gripped Robert’s hand. The flood of emotion wasn’t there, but he could definitely feel Ben’s presence. Ben was obviously a powerful guide and was able to control his own emotional projection even as he waded through Robert’s head. He became more relaxed the longer they touched, and he was surprised when he was blinking his eyes open a few moments later.  
  
“You with us, kid?” Eric asked.  
  
“Yeah, yeah. I’m okay.”  
  
Robert heard House snort at his statement. Yeah, he knew that in the big picture he was about as far from okay as one could get, but he was still hanging on.  
  
“What’s the damage?” he asked, looking toward Ben.  
  
“You have some options. I think that if you wanted to work at it, you could break the bond and regain your guide abilities in time. If you break the bond and do nothing further, you will likely go dormant. In your circumstance, your dormancy wouldn’t be the same or quite as complete as if you had been mentally unstable. It won’t damage your standing in the S&G community or your ability to keep your career,” Ben explained. “You may even retain some low levels of empathic sensitivity. The one thing you will most definitely lose, however, would be your connection to the spirit plane. You haven’t brought it up yet, so I’m assuming you don’t have a strong relationship with your spirit animal?”  
  
Robert sighed. “No, although I had always wished I did. I only ever saw my spirit animal, a fox, the day I came online. I was never able to connect with it again in training or afterward.”  
  
“Not a wombat?” House asked sarcastically.  
  
Robert just rolled his eyes. “No, House. Not actually a wombat. Really. If we’re going to use your logic to determine spirit animals, yours must be a donkey, because you’re an ass.”  
  
Eric threw his head back and laughed long and loud. Ben smiled and chuckled too, but he gave House a strange, knowing look. Robert couldn’t help but join in with a smirk of his own. At least he still had this. Verbal sparring with House never got old.  
  
“Well, well, well, Dr. Chase. At least that bitch didn’t ruin all the fun parts of you yet,” House tossed back.  
  
That sobered Chase up a bit. Reality came crashing back in and he sighed. “I don’t know if I can be a guide anymore. I feel like that part of me has been used and twisted. She soiled it with her actions and made it something dirty and wrong. I know I should probably fight it. I know I should probably want to be a guide again, but I don’t. It feels wrong to say it, but not having to carry the weight of it day after day would be such a relief.”  
  
Ben looked sad but understanding. “Robert, no guide is meant to live in an unhealthy bond and accept a sentinel’s abuse. I’m sorry you’re losing a part of you, but if you feel that’s the path you want to take, you’ll find no judgement from us. We’ll be here to help you through the process.”  
  
“Okay. Thanks.” With that decision made, it was if the exhaustion he’d been pushing back for the last couple hours came pouring over him.  
  
He must have looked dead on his feet because Eric began ushering them away from the table and upstairs. The large house had several bedrooms, and Robert and House took rooms next to each other. Robert immediately took his kit to the bathroom across the hall to clean up a bit, and then he put on sleep pants and crawled into the surprisingly comfortable double bed. He started to wonder if House would stay up catching up with his friends, but then sleep overtook him before the thought was fully developed.

 


	2. Chapter 2

He woke with a shout, heart pounding and a confusing mass of emotions making thought difficult. He could feel her. Feel his sentinel. Robert was confused. How was that even happening? As the emotions coalesced and became more clear, he realized what she was doing. She was fucking someone, and he could feel the associated emotions through the bond.  
  
His stomach roiled and he sat up abruptly, grabbing his head. His distress or the noise must have woken the other sentinels in the house because he heard a knock on the bedroom door. Robert was pretty sure Ben had called his name, but he couldn’t really organize his thoughts enough to respond. After waiting only a few seconds, the door opened to admit all three of the other men in the house.   
  
Robert couldn’t let go of his head. The way Cameron was pushing through their bond was physically painful. He heard indistinct voices around him, but the only response he could muster was a pained moan. The bed dipped and he felt a hand on his knee through his sleep pants.

“Robert,” Ben spoke gently. “Can you focus on me? Tell me what's going on?”

Robert gritted his teeth and put some effort into pushing back and clearing his mind enough to communicate.

“Cameron,” he said roughly. “I can feel her. Everything. I think she's having sex with someone right now. I'm getting all her emotions.”

“What the fuck?” he heard House say angrily.

“Okay, can you feel your bond?” Ben asked.

“Yes. It's like it's wide open. Like the first time we bonded, but it's twisted,” he choked on a breath. “Oh, god. The lust and then anger too. It feels wrong. She's doing this on purpose, isn't she? She's doing this to hurt me.”

“Most likely. She would need to consciously open the bond and let her emotions bleed through to make you feel this. She’s likely doing it now because she wouldn't have the strength to open the bond in normal circumstances. She needed the heightened emotions and sensory input of sex,” Ben confirmed. He sounded regretful as he continued. “I can try to shield you empathically, but I don't think it will help shield you from your bond with her.”

“Please. Anything.”

Robert felt Ben’s mental presence envelope him. It was soothing in a way, but as predicted, it did nothing to protect him from Cameron. A surge of twisted pleasure made him feel suddenly sick, and he lurched to his feet and stumbled to the bathroom across the hall before vomiting in the toilet.

He slumped against the edge of the tub when he was finished and looked up to find Ben and House had followed him.  
  
Another wave of emotions came through the bond, and his headache intensified. Robert groaned. “Please make it stop. I don’t want this. Get her out,” he managed in a trembling voice.  
  
“Eric is calling the Princeton Center to let them know what she’s doing and see if there is a way they can find and arrest her for the deliberate attack or, at the very least, stop her,” Ben said, steady and calm.   
  
“No! We can’t just sit here and let her keep doing this to him!” House practically shouted at Ben. “There has to be something more you can do! You’re supposed to be a strong guide, so fix this!”  
  
“I don’t know that there is more we can do. Short of someone finding her in Princeton or severing the bond, she’s in control. A bond can’t be severed instantly anyway. Robert might be able to block it from his end, but considering the uneven nature of the bond and the stress that has placed on him over the years, he probably lacks the strength to do it at this point.”  
  
Robert let out another pained groan. At least he knew the physical act of sex had to end at some point, even if Cameron’s anger didn’t. It was a sick distinction to have to make, but he would take what he could get right now. He needed a distraction. He held out his hand.  
  
“Someone touch me.”  
  
“What?” House said.  
  
“Skin contact,” Robert said hoarsely.  
  
Ben cocked his head quizzically. “He wants exposure to emotions other than those he’s getting from her. Distraction. Something else to keep his focus.”  
  
House shook his head.  
  
“I’m willing, but I think it would be better coming from someone familiar,” Ben argued.  
  
Robert watched as they seemed to have some cross between a staring contest and a silent conversation.  
  
“Please,” he begged quietly.  
  
“Oh, fuck it.” House moved carefully to sit next to Robert on the floor and immediately took his hand.  
  
Robert gasped in surprise as new emotions washed over him, lessening the pressure of those from Cameron.  
  
“You’re not…messy. I always thought you’d be messy with all that medical genius tumbling around up there.”

House grunted in acknowledgement.

“You're also not a sentinel.”

House turned his head away, and Robert could feel a strange mix of guilt and remorse coming from House. It wasn't the reaction he expected from the man.

“You going to explain that?”

“I will, but later.”

“M’kay.”

Robert realized Ben had stepped back into the hall and was quietly discussing something with Eric. He enjoyed the moment of distraction as he processed House’s emotional state. Anger, frustration, worry, and in the background, he could sense House was in pain.

“I always wondered how a sentinel could handle that much Vicodin. Guess that's one thing explained,” Robert said casually.

“Wilson knows. It's why he helps me out with the drugs.”

A wave of Cameron's anger surged back, and nausea came over Robert as it was followed by her smug pleasure. He breathed through the nausea.

“Talk.”

“Hm?” House questioned.

“Talk about something. It will keep a natural emotional variation going.” Robert had his eyes tightly closed as he tried to fend off the attack.  
  
“Did I tell you about the time I ordered Wilson a stripper-gram at the hospital and had her pose as a patient? He got through half the assessment questions before he realized what was going on. I don’t know why he didn’t catch a clue. When he asked her about organ pain, she told him she thought he should palpate some of her organs to check.”

Robert chuckled. House’s amusement was quickly becoming his favorite distraction. His head throbbed, and he sighed.

“She was always a bitch, wasn't she? I was just too stupid to see it.”

House shook his head. “Not stupid. Loyal, generous, kind, and despite all that good enough at what you do and just twisted enough that I actually like working with you.”

They sat in silence a moment. Robert didn't understand why people accused House of not understanding human emotion. He did just fine. He processed and worked through emotions as methodically as anything else in his mind. He simply had different priorities than most people, and an inability to waste time telling white lies to placate others.

The momentary peace was broken as emotion surged through the bond again. This time it was startling in its strength, and Robert heaved into the toilet, unable to stop the flood of filth in his mind.

“Damnit,” House said in frustration behind him. He was right there though, touching his back under the hem of his t-shirt. At least Cameron wasn’t the only one in his head. At least he could still feel House. Feel something he chose to feel from someone else who wasn’t this oil slick of filth that was seeping through his bond.  
  
Then, just as suddenly, it was gone. Not completely, but fading fast. Indistinct, like the fog left behind from a passing headache. Robert sat back on his heels and panted in exhaustion and relief. He didn’t have enough energy to really process what had happened right now, and all he wanted in that moment was to sleep. He attempted to stand, fumbling and uncoordinated.  
  
“Whoa there, little wombat. Where do you think you’re going?”  
  
“It’s over. She stopped. Bed,” was all Robert could manage in response to House’s question.  
  
“Yeah, okay. Here.” House stood as well and turned to stand facing Robert, arms wrapping loosely around his waist so he could guide him backwards to the bedroom.  
  
Robert let his head fall to House’s shoulder and shuffled along with him. He absently listened to the conversation of the other men around him. Eric and Ben had been waiting in the hallway.  
  
“How is he?” Ben asked quietly.  
  
House let out a bitter laugh. “I imagine not too great after that bitch literally fucked her way through his mind, but my guess is he’s too exhausted at this point to really feel anything about it.”  
  
Robert thought he heard Eric growl then say roughly, “Are you going to stay with him?”  
  
“Please,” Robert croaked out in a hoarse whisper before he even realized what he was doing.  
  
“Not going anywhere,” House grunted.  
  
Robert let out a sigh of relief he hadn’t even known he’d been holding in, and then exhaustion hit him so hard, he would have crumpled to the ground had House not been there to hold him up.  
  
“Okay there, Bobby. Let’s get you to bed.”  
  
Robert registered the soft feel of the mattress under him, and the warm body of House behind him for a moment before he was swept quickly into sleep.

\- - - - -

Greg woke before Chase did, coming to awareness quickly. He couldn’t help but immediately start to plot the demise of one Allison Cameron in his head. She was one hell of a sick person. The physical sensations of his surroundings began to register then. Bobby breathing slow and deep in his arms, and their legs tangled together, though the pain in his was starting to grow to the point of needing relief.  
  
He slowly pulled back and untangled himself from around the lithe, blonde man. Chase was probably still recovering from the exhaustion of the previous night because he did little more than settle further into his pillow. After taking a moment to regret that it would probably be the only time he would get to hold Chase like that, House limped quietly back to his bedroom and found his stash of pills. He downed a couple dry, grabbed his cane, and made his way downstairs to where he could smell coffee brewing in the kitchen.  
  
Greg found his long-time friends sitting at the kitchen table, chairs pushed together, leaning into each other as they drank coffee. They had been talking lowly to each other, but they stopped when Greg entered the room. He ignored them for the moment and fixed himself a mug. After taking his first sip, he sighed and spoke.  
  
“Well, I think we can all agree that last night sucked.”  
  
Ben gave an amused snort, but Eric’s face morphed into a murderous glare.  
  
“That sentinel has abused that boy for the last time,” Eric said lowly. “Princeton PD found her car and picked her up outside an apartment building this morning. The Center is involved and will make sure she stays in custody at least until the bond is broken - longer if he wants to press charges.”  
  
“Down boy,” Greg said, but he couldn’t put much humor behind it considering the circumstances.  
  
Ben spoke calmly. “I think we need to work on helping Robert sever the bond as soon as possible. Then hopefully he can start to heal from this mess.”  
  
“Good.” Greg knew that Ben and Eric could help Chase move past this. Silence fell over the kitchen for a moment.  
  
“We going to talk about your thing now?” Eric broke in.  
  
“My thing?”  
  
“Yeah, the fact that you clearly have feelings for him. And on top of that you exposed his cheating sentinel and took advantage of the situation to drag him away into isolation with you,” Eric said baldly.  
  
Greg held up his hands in surrender. “Hey, I never said I wasn’t a manipulative bastard out for my own gain, but someone had to get him out of that situation. As for my thing, I doubt he’s going to want a relationship with anyone, much less me, after this mess. He’s young and hot. He’ll probably go home and sleep his way through the entire nursing staff at the hospital until he feels better.”  
  
“Relationship, Greg? I’d almost say you’re getting sentimental,” Eric smirked at him.  
  
“Go fuck yourself, sentinel.”  
  
“Ben took care of that already,” Eric said without missing a beat.  
  
House sputtered on his mouthful of coffee. Chase walked in at that moment, looking like he’d grabbed a quick shower and change of clothes.  
  
“I didn’t expect you to be such a prude, House.” Chase patted him on the back in a mock effort to help as he coughed.  
  
He finally regained his voice. “Come on, Bobby. I thought you were on my side.”

Greg couldn't regret the small smile that graced Chase’s features at his playful whine. Chase grabbed a coffee for himself and sat at the kitchen table.

“You feeling up to any breakfast?” Eric asked.  
  
Chase sighed, suddenly looking more tired and defeated that he had just seconds before. “Not really.”  
  
No one pushed, but Eric stood and started pulling out bread and butter for toast. Ben focused his attention on Chase and plowed through the awkward silence that had descended.  
  
“If you’re up for it, Robert, I think we should start the process of severing the bond as soon as possible.”  
  
“Yeah, okay.”  
  
The emotionless tone of his voice was disconcerting for Greg to hear. Ben glanced over at him, and they shared a speaking look that let him know Ben understood the emotional turmoil lurking just under the surface of the man sitting across the table. Chase still had a long road to go.  
  
Greg couldn’t even imagine the depth of betrayal he was experiencing, having been treated in such a way by the one person that was supposed to be his perfect match and partner in life. It was moments like these that he was glad not to be a sentinel or guide. Sometimes biology really fucked a person over.  
  
They were all distracted with the task of eating for a short time when Eric brought a platter of toast to the table. Greg noticed that Chase even managed half a slice. As they were finishing up, Chase seemed to pull himself together as if bracing for a storm.  
  
“So what do I need to do to sever the bond?”  
  
“You’ll actually close it off mentally through a series of mediations. Once you start the process yourself, it usually completes with relative ease on its own. It’s sort of like you’re tipping the first domino and the rest will fall under the pressure,” Ben replied.  
  
Chase furrowed his brow in thought. “And you’ve done this before? Facilitated the severing of a bond, I mean?”  
  
“Yes, several times. Eric and I have come to have a reputation for being able to help those of our kind who might not get the best care from a Center for one reason or another.”  
  
“How does that work?” Chase looked skeptical. “I mean, I know House wouldn’t tolerate you if you were some quacks, but why are you working outside the system?”  
  
Eric answered this time. “We are alphas, but we have our own style. We aren’t into playing politics with other prides, so we ended up settling up here in a smaller community. We’ve had a small pride come together here, and we liaise with the S&G Center in Albany when necessary. Just because we all have a biological protect-the-tribe imperative doesn’t mean we all agree on how that should be accomplished.”  
  
Greg watched Chase quietly process all that for a moment.  
  
Ben interrupted his thoughts. “Would you like to start now? It really doesn’t do you any good to put it off.”  
  
Chase closed his eyes for a few seconds, and when he opened them, he looked resigned but accepting.  
  
“Let’s do it.”


	3. Chapter 3

House had excused himself to go putter around Ben’s small office and library, leaving Robert alone with the sentinel and guide pair. He felt a little exposed before the two men, but he figured it was irrational considering they had already witnessed one of the worst nights in his life. His own sentinel had been using him, and he had gone along with the fairytale perfect match blindly. He was done with that now.

Robert thought he should be feeling more emotion over the whole thing—anger, sadness, something—but he was wrung out and just wanted to move on. If he could have cut out the part of him that was a guide with a scalpel and sewn himself back up cleanly, he would have. Being a guide had only brought him intense pain in the end, and it made him doubt so much about himself and the unhealthy bond he had been a part of for so long.  
  
Ben directed him to the living room, and they both sat cross-legged on the plush area rug.  
  
“If you feel we’re moving too fast, let me know. I know it seems abrupt, but the best thing for you now is to get the process started so you can begin to heal.” Ben’s voice was kind as he spoke.  
  
“I want this done. I don’t want to be a guide anymore.”  
  
Ben’s response held no judgement, even though the idea had to be untenable to a happily bonded alpha guide. Robert suddenly understood why House had brought him to Ben and Eric. The S&G Center would have undoubtedly pushed him toward remaining a guide no matter what he wanted personally.

“Okay. I can’t tell you exactly what will happen to your guide gifts after the bond is severed, but it’s likely that you won’t have to bear the burden in this way much longer.”

Ben instructed him to close his eyes and led them in meditation. Robert was typical of most guides and spent time meditating regularly, though he didn't feel the need to do it as often as some. He fell easily into rhythmic breathing and tried to relax in the moment and shed the stress of the previous night.

“Okay, Robert. I want you to visualize your shields, however you usually do.”

Robert visualized his shields in the way most guides were trained to: as a series of semi-transparent walls around an open space.

“Now, I’d like you to visualize your bond as it connects to your mental shields,” Ben continued.  
  
Robert opened his eyes abruptly. “I’ve never been able to visualize my bond.”  
  
“Never?” Ben questioned. “That could be a result of the unbalanced nature of your situation. My bond with Eric is something I can visualize as a tether flowing with our auras.”  
  
“I feel it. I feel this presence of the bond, but it’s always been indistinct. The only times it wasn’t was during our initial bonding and last night.”  
  
Ben seemed to take a moment to himself to think, then spoke again. “Though your bond is weak, this might actually make it harder for you to sever. Without a specific point of focus, your mind may not be able to cleanly shut down your link to the bond and maintain your empathic shields at the same time.”

Upon hearing that, Eric, who had been standing casually against the wall near the door, left the room and returned momentarily with House in tow.

“I want you around in case this gets more intense than we were originally thinking,” Eric explained to House.

He then sat down next to Ben, close enough that he could place a hand on his back as a grounding presence.

“Intense?” Robert questioned.

Ben had a serious but open expression as he spoke. “If you aren't able to maintain your empathic shields, then I'll step in to shield you. Eric is here to stabilize my gifts, and if he is busy doing that, his sentinel instincts will feel better if there is someone looking out for us while we are more vulnerable.”

Robert took the information at face value, not wanting to think too deeply about the implications of what that would mean for him.

Ben quickly led him back into meditation. Robert tried to let go of the logical part of his brain and just follow the instructions being given. It was difficult. He was simultaneously deadened emotionally, yet logically aware of the multitude of emotions he should be having over his situation. Finally, after several minutes, he sloughed off the circling thoughts and focused on Ben’s voice.  
  
The smooth baritone was calming, and Ben’s natural presence as an alpha guide made it easy to trust him to get Robert where he needed to go. Robert wasn’t even fully processing the words guiding him, but he knew it was working as he instinctually felt each move they made. Suddenly, he felt a clarity of both purpose and emotion as his mindscape coalesced into an almost tangible thing.  
  
Robert was angry. Angry that this sentinel had taken the pure bond they should have had and had sullied it. Angry that she had torn him down to the point of barely functioning as a guide, and brought him to the precipice of losing even that. Worse than all that, Robert was angry at himself for never seeing Cameron for who she was and allowing the abusive bond to happen.   
  
The intensity of his rage scared him, but it was like a thing growing inside him out of control. He was rushing faster and faster down a hill with no way of stopping, and, if he was honest, no desire to either. The pressure of the raw emotion built inside him until he felt it snap. He knew his bond was broken in that moment, but he couldn’t keep himself from tearing his shields down with it. He registered the broken shout reverberating in the room as his own before blackness swamped his consciousness.  
  
\- - - - -   
  
Greg felt like a creepy old man as he watched Chase sleep. Just a few days ago he’d heard the gut wrenching cry of a man whose world was falling apart, and here he sat wishing he could lean down and kiss away the lines of tension in that face. The whole business had made him sappy. House was getting restless with none of his usual distractions on-hand, but he couldn’t leave the sick and shaking, empty shell of his friend there alone. So, he contented himself with admiring his Bobby and catching up on reading recent medical journals.  
  
He’d pulled a chair close enough to the bed that he could prop his feet up on the mattress. From that vantage point, Greg noticed the moment Chase opened his eyes and slowly focused on him.  
  
“Fuck,” Chase’s voice scratched out.  
  
“Well, aren’t you just a little ray of sunshine this afternoon.”  
  
Chase furrowed his brow. “Afternoon? Did I sleep through a whole day again?”  
  
“Pretty much. Although, in your defense, wombats usually stay in their burrows all day and come out at night to find food,” House replied dryly.  
  
“Did you research wombats for the express purpose of harassing me, or do you just happen to have an encyclopedic knowledge of marsupials?”  
  
Greg smirked and was happy to see a small smiled echoed on Chase. “I’ll never tell.”  
  
Chase sighed, and they lapsed into silence. Greg wanted to offer comforting words or ask how the other man was feeling, but he knew from experience that both those things would feel trite and useless in the face of Chase’s injury. And it was an injury. Maybe not in the tangible sense, but it was a fact that the biology of who Robert Chase was had been forever altered.   
  
Maybe platitudes wouldn’t help, but he could at least make sure his physical health didn’t suffer any more than necessary.  
  
“You think you could eat?”  
  
He wasn’t expecting a positive response. The past few days when Chase had been awake, he’d been too nauseated to eat or drink much of anything. House was beginning to worry about dehydration.  
  
“No. Thirsty.”  
  
“Good. That’s a start.” House turned his head toward the bedroom door and yelled, “Hey Eric, can we get something to drink up here?”  
  
Chase just rolled his eyes, but Greg felt his mission was accomplished when it was followed by an affectionate smile, however small.  
  
When Eric had come and gone, grumbling at Greg the entire time, Chase sat up and began sipping at some juice. House settled back in his chair to continue his reading, but he was keeping a casual eye on the man in the bed. It was a good thing he did because he saw the wince before Chase could cover it up.  
  
“Headache?” he asked softly.  
  
It had been another main symptom the past few days. At this point, the dehydration could be the cause just as easily as the broken bond, but it didn’t matter much. Greg stood and made his way to the other side of the bed, climbing in to sit against the headboard next to Chase.  
  
“Story time. What do you want to hear?”  
  
“Story time?” Chase looked confused.  
  
“Distraction as a form of pain management. Trust me on this. I’ve made an art of it. Besides, I like to hear myself talk.”

“Yes, that’s quite apparent,” Chase said drily.  
  
Greg poked him in the arm. “Rude. Now pick something.”  
  
“I honestly don’t really care.”  
  
Greg watched as Chase set the juice aside and moved to lie down again on his side, facing away from him. He couldn’t blame the man for his moodiness and depression. It did prove his point that distraction was needed, and for more than one reason.  
  
“Okay. How about I tell you about how I met our dear friends Eric and Benedict? I know you’re just dying to swoon over our meet-cute.”  
  
Greg was pleased when he heard a small scoff from the lump under the covers next to him.

“Maybe you’re feeling guilty, because you know you owe me an explanation,” came the partially muffled reply.  
  
“Yeah, well. You aren’t really wrong.” House lapsed into silence for a moment as the significance of their changing relationship weighed on him. Shaking off the complex thoughts, he began.  
  
“Listen up under there, because I’m only going to tell it once. So, back when I was a budding young genius, I did my residency at Johns Hopkins. I started out in infectious disease. It was boring, but probably the least boring of all the specialties.”  
  
“Why am I not surprised that you think infectious disease is boring?” Chase interrupted.  
  
“Shush, you. So I had to do rotations in the ER, and one night this girl walks in. She was 16, and had a severe skin rash. I didn't think it was a typical rash so I started asking questions, and I got her to admit that her father had been keeping her from leaving home because she came online as a sentinel. She had come online a few weeks previous, but her father wouldn’t let her register or get help at a Center. She'd finally walked to the hospital that night after he went out with his buddies.”

Chase interrupted again. “Well, shit.”  
  
“Yeah. It sucked, but it got worse. I knew she shouldn’t be treated as a mundane, and she was already on the run from her father, so I took her from the ER to the Baltimore S&G Center. That’s where our friends Eric and Ben show up.  
  
“They both worked at the center at the time and were on duty. The girl was clearly in distress and had no formal training on handling her senses. Ben immediately began helping her, while Eric contacted child services to get protective custody. That was the biggest mistake we could have made, because in all the wisdom of their system, they couldn’t allow her to stay at the Center because she wasn’t a registered sentinel.”  
  
House paused to take a few slow breaths. His voice was hoarse with emotion when he continued.  
  
“The State took custody of her that night and released her back to her father because they couldn't see physical signs of abuse. A rash doesn’t count in the mundane world. While the S&G Center scrambled to wade through all the red tape necessary to get her out of her home, her father beat her to within an inch of her life for the embarrassment of it all not even a day later. She ended up in a wheelchair and eventually went dormant.”  
  
Greg pulled his focus back from the point he had been staring at on the opposite wall when Chase rolled over to face him.  
  
“I’m sorry, House. That’s…horrible doesn’t even seem a strong enough word.”   
  
He looked down at Chase. “Yeah. Sometimes people are really shitty to each other. It’s not like you don’t have experience with that.”  
  
“Maybe, but in the end I’m still all here.”   
  
“Don’t,” Greg snapped back. “Don’t belittle what she took from you just because your injuries aren't physical.”  
  
A moment of awkward silence stretched between them, as it seemed neither man wanted to wade into that emotional minefield.  
  
“So tell me how you all ended up here, and why you’re masquerading as a sentinel,” Chase said as he relaxed back into the pillow.  
  
Greg blew out a breath. “Well, Ben and Eric were angry. I was too. I talked to them after it all. They hated the system, and I figured I could use that to fix my boredom problem. I talked them into helping me stage coming online as a sentinel and falsifying my registration so I could practice sentinel and guide medicine. I told them a lot of flowery bullshit about being able to help from the inside. They bought it, and then they left the Center and came up here to be able to help sentinels and guides without adhering to the usual bureaucratic nonsense. They liaise with the Albany Center sometimes, but otherwise they are outside the system.”  
  
Chase was quiet for a moment before commenting quietly. “You’re forgetting how well I know you if you want me to think your motives were purely selfish. I’m sure you’ve been able to help a lot of people doing what you do, even if you’re technically doing it illegally.”  
  
“Yeah, well the rule that only sentinels and guides can practice S&G medicine is dumb. It’s way more interesting than another case of measles on a mundane kid whose idiot parent didn’t get him vaccinated.”  
  
They lapsed into silence again for a few moments.  
  
“It worked,” Chase said softly as he lay with eyes closed.  
  
“What did?”  
  
“Story time. Headache is gone.” Chase rolled to his side and appeared to settle in for another nap.  
  
“Good,” Greg replied softly. He couldn’t stop himself from reaching out to lightly brush a lock of hair that had fallen forward off Bobby’s forehead. He was a creepy old man.


	4. Chapter 4

It was another few days of being allowed to hide from the world before House rudely put an end to Robert’s self-pity party.

“Morning, sunshine!”  
  
Robert could hear the uneven gait come closer to the bed, but he didn’t extricate himself from his pile of pillows and blankets.  
  
“Fuck off, House.”  
  
“Nope. Get up, take a shower and get dressed. We’re going for a ride.” He punctuated his command by poking Robert in the leg with his cane.  
  
“What nonsense is this?” Robert couldn’t help but be curious, and he poked his head out of the covers just enough to see Greg. He was dressed in jeans and a leather jacket.  
  
“A ride. Eric is going to lend me his bike. It’s a Harley, but it’ll work.” House had a look of distaste as he uttered the name of the motorcycle’s maker. “You’re going to get out of this bed, sit your pretty ass on the back of the bike, and enjoy a little fresh air.”  
  
“Go outside and play, Robbie. The fresh air will be good for you,” Robert said in a mocking falsetto. “You sound like my mother.”  
  
House huffed. “Look, we all gave you time and space to grieve and be depressed and get over the worst of the symptoms. Boohoo. Life sucks. Okay, now get out of bed.”  
  
House turned and started toward the bedroom door. Without turning back, he mimicked the high-pitched voice Robert had earlier. “Don’t forget your coat, Robbie dear. Don’t want you catching cold.”  
  
“Shit,” Robert said under his breath. He started the process of untangling himself from the less-than-fresh bedsheets. Maybe he really did need to get up and about.  
  
After a quick shower, Robert dressed and headed downstairs. He hadn’t bothered to shave or do anything with his hair, but he figured he would be hiding it all under a helmet anyway. He really couldn’t be concerned with the effort to look any more presentable. Robert was still tired and moody. He wasn’t going to give House an inch more than he asked.  
  
He trudged down the stairs and out to the front porch without running into either Eric or Ben. Robert figured they had their own pride business to attend to and had finally gotten back to their lives after helping him. If he’d been in a better mood, Robert would have admitted that the sight of Greg House leaning on a motorcycle in the warm autumn sun was a good one.   
That gave him an idea. If House was going to drag him out into the world against his will, the least he could repay him with was a confrontation on what had been brewing between them the past week.

Greg had been at his bedside often throughout the past few days, and he’d definitely been more tactile than ever. Robert would almost say he was being affectionate, which seemed pretty odd until all the pieces had fallen into place. House had an ulterior motive for helping Robert kick his bitch of a sentinel to the curb. The question was, would he admit to it?  
  
Looking him up and down, House said plainly, “Well, at least you’re clean. Let’s go.”  
  
Robert donned the helmet set on the seat for him, swung a leg over, and sat down behind Greg. He decided to start pushing his boundaries and see how far he could get, so he moved in snug behind him and didn’t hesitate in wrapping his arms around House’s waist. Nothing more was said, and the bike roared to life under them, spitting a couple loose stones as it sped down the driveway.  
  
They rode open county highways for a while, passing farm fields and wooded groves tinted with fall colors. Robert simply let himself enjoy the experience: Greg’s worn-soft leather jacket under his hands, the warmth of the sun tempered by the beginnings of autumn chill, the wind rushing over the noise of the engine. He let his mind wander over the events of the last week.

It had been up and down. Well, mostly down, but some ups. Greg had let him in on his secret and had been there for him in ways he hadn't anticipated. If Robert was honest with himself, he was developing feelings. That was part of the reason he was pushing their boundaries because he knew they must be reciprocated.

They had worked together for a few years now, and Robert realized that he had been attracted to the snarky, sarcastic man for a while. It wasn't anything he’d really allowed to develop more than a passing thought because he’d been bonded. In the wake of the mess that was his life collapsing around him, Robert found the thought of his attraction to House strangely freeing.

He didn't have to worry about Greg’s emotional tone because he couldn't feel it. He didn't have to worry about dishonesty because he knew House well enough to know what kinds of things he would and wouldn't lie about. He felt like he could be himself and expect House to do the same. He was so caught up in thought that he almost didn’t register when they started slowing down. He brought himself back to the present enough to realize they were pulling into a diner on what looked to be the outskirts of a small town.

They got off the motorcycle and stowed the helmets. The diner looked like one of those places every small town has – it might not look like much, but was guaranteed to have the best greasy burger for miles around. Robert realized that he was truly hungry for the first time in days. Maybe House has been right about getting out, but he’d never admit that to the man’s face.  
  
Robert was smug when he noticed Greg surreptitiously adjusting himself when he thought no one was looking. Good. His little plan was working, and he was confident he could get some real words out of Greg about his feelings by the end of the day.  
  
There wasn’t really any conversation as they found an out-of-the-way booth and both ordered a cheeseburger with fries. Other than that, neither one of them seemed willing to fill the silence with inane small talk. Robert waited him out. Their food came and they both ate quietly. If he let out a couple soft moans of pleasure at the taste, Robert wasn’t going to admit to it, but it didn’t hurt his cause. It was a great burger, after all.  
  
Finally, Robert decided he should play his hand. House had probably figured out he was up to something by that point anyway.  
  
“Are we going to talk about this?”  
  
House cleared his throat. “Talk about what?”  
  
“How weird you’re being.”  
  
“How weird I’m being,” House said evenly.  
  
Robert sighed and gave in to being the one to talk first. “You’re more yourself out here. I mean – not out on the road – away from Princeton. Away from the hospital. I feel like I’m finally seeing the real Greg House all the time. Not just those little glimpses I caught over the years. None of the games. No pretending to be a sentinel.”  
  
Robert paused and the silence was heavy.  
  
“I can sense you’re attracted to me. How did I never realize that before? Not even when I was still a guide.” Robert’s voice wavered a little over the last word, but he wasn’t about to live in denial of what had happened just because reality was hard.  
  
Greg was silent for a moment, and Robert wondered if he would get a real answer out of him after all. Their check was delivered, and Greg payed. Just as Robert was about to give up and leave the table to head back to the bike, their unspoken standoff was broken.  
  
“I’m good at compartmentalizing,” Greg said calmly. “I had to be to work closely with real sentinels and guides and get away with it. I have good control of my real emotions. Yeah, I let people see the obvious. It was easy to play up the cantankerous bastard stuff while I made sure anything that could reveal my true status was locked down. You were bonded, so I put my feelings for you in the same category, and that was that.”  
  
With that, House stood and limped out the door to the bike, leaving Robert scrambling to shake off the shock of actually getting the admission he’d wanted and catch up. When he emerged, House already had his helmet on, hiding his face, and was sitting astride the motorcycle. Robert grabbed his helmet and got on, for some reason more careful with how he touched Greg than before. Apparently, they weren’t going to talk about it any further, and all the ease of the morning was replaced with stilted awkwardness.  
  
They rode the rest of the afternoon, only stopping briefly for a break and to get gas, but it was plagued with the awkwardness that lingered from lunch. House seemed to both drive aimlessly and know exactly where he wanted to go. It was early evening by the time they pulled up in front of the Fieldings’ house.  
  
As they dismounted, Eric came out to greet them and put the bike away. Robert thanked him for letting them make use of it, but House was clearly in a mood and stayed silent.  
  
Eric addressed Robert as he checked over the bike. “Ben made you an appointment at the Albany S&G Center tomorrow if you’re up for it. They’ll want to confirm your severed bond and status with testing and reclassification, and you can file a complaint against her while you’re there if you want to press charges for domestic abuse.”  
  
Robert scoffed. “She never hit me.”  
  
“Maybe not, but you’ve been in the community long enough to know that the kind of emotional abuse she inflicted through your bond is more than enough to warrant punitive action. You didn’t deserve any of what she did to you at any point in your bond, and any sentinel or guide will back you up. In fact, it’s taken a great deal of self-control on my part not to run down there and punch her, and I’ve only known you for a week. We protect our own, Robert, even if it’s from each other.”  
  
Robert blew out a shaky breath to calm himself before he replied. “I know all that, but a part of me knew from the beginning it wasn’t right, and I stayed anyway. I allowed the situation to get as bad as it did. She isn’t the only one to blame.”  
  
“Agree to disagree, kid. It’s your choice, and I won’t take that away from you.” Eric said.  
  
“Knowing the way the community talks, she’ll get enough punishment from her peers, anyway. I can’t imagine anyone who knows what happened will be friendly with her after this,” Robert pointed out.  
  
“That’s true enough. Gossips, all of them,” Eric said with a small chuckle.

Robert realized that while he had been talking with Eric, House has disappeared inside. When he went upstairs, the door to House’s room was already closed. He thought about knocking, but he was beginning to feel quite tired from their day out and decided sleep was the better option, even though it was early. Besides, he had to go face more reality tomorrow at the S&G Center, and he’d need to summon some strength from somewhere for that.  
  
\- - - - -  
  
Robert actually did sleep most of the night and woke relatively early for his appointment. He found Ben in the kitchen making breakfast.  
  
“Morning. I was planning to give you a ride to the Center, if that’s alright. I scheduled some time to catch up with their Guide Director on pride business and community news. You’ll be meeting with a staff guide who will assess your status. I already informed them of the general circumstances of your situation, and no one will push beyond the basic testing and information needed for your records.”  
  
“Thank you. I appreciate that.” Robert paused a moment. “House isn’t up yet?”  
  
Ben chuckled. “No. I expect he’ll sleep late. He and Eric were still working their way through a bottle of scotch when I turned in for the night.”  
  
Huh. Robert had passed out pretty quickly the night before, and slept soundly. He didn’t realize House had apparently stayed awake late into the night. He’d sort of hoped House would come with him today, but maybe it was better this way. He could get this taken care of and then work out whatever was going on between them free and clear.   
  
The more he’d thought about it the last few days, the more he realized he was attracted to Greg, and had been for a while. He never would have acted on it while bonded, and he’d always assumed he and Cameron would be bonded for life, but now he couldn’t let the idea go. Yeah, sure, he should probably take time alone to heal and accept his new status as a dormant guide, but the fact was that he simply didn’t want to do that. He wanted Greg House.  
  
After a quick breakfast, he and Ben drove to Albany. Robert was directed to the medical wing for his tests, and he assumed Ben went off to attend his meeting. The staff were all courteous and the tests of his bond status and abilities as a guide didn’t feel as intrusive as he worried they would. The Center confirmed that his bond was indeed severed, and that he had gone dormant.   
  
The morning passed quickly, and he and Ben returned to the house by noon. They both wandered back to the kitchen to find some lunch. Robert barked out a laugh at the sight of Eric sitting at the kitchen table slumped over a cup of coffee.  
  
“Still hungover then?” Ben asked with amusement tinging his voice. Robert figured Eric was also having a bit of a hard time controlling his senses in the aftermath of the alcohol consumption, because he was dressed only in a pair of loose-fitting sweatpants and appeared to be cautiously inhaling the scent of the coffee. A grunt from Eric was the only response.  
  
Robert chuckled and inquired, “House not up yet?”  
  
Eric sighed, and finally looked up to meet Robert’s gaze. “He’s gone.”  
  
“What?” Robert wasn’t particularly articulate with the shock of that statement.  
  
“Gone when I got up. Left a note just saying he needed to get back to work and was going home.”  
  
Robert was confused. “But why now?”  
  
A moment of silence passed as they all seemingly contemplated the question.  
  
Ben huffed suddenly. “That idiot. He knew you were going to the Center this morning.”  
  
Robert stared at Ben blankly. He didn’t understand what his going to the S&G Center had to do with anything.  
  
“He talks a lot when he’s drunk,” Eric explained. “He wouldn’t stop talking about you. If I had to guess, I’d say he wasn’t sure how the testing would turn out, and he figured you wouldn’t want him if you had any of your guide gifts remaining.”  
  
“So he ran away,” Robert finished. “Idiot.”  
  
Ben laughed softly and slapped a hand on Robert’s shoulder companionably. “Yeah, well he’s our idiot, right?”  
  
“I need to go talk to him.”  
  
“Are you sure you want to do that so soon? You’re welcome to stay here as long as you want,” Ben offered.  
  
“No. Thank you, but no. I – ah – I am fully dormant now, and the life I had with her doesn’t exist anymore. I’m not saying I’ve put everything behind me, but the only thing keeping me moving forward the past few days has been the chance of a future. A future with him.” Robert breathed a bit easier with the admission out in the open for the first time.  
  
“If that’s what you want, you know we won’t judge. I can recommend a sentinel-and-guide-friendly therapist for you in Princeton. You might find you want to talk some of this through as you continue the healing process,” Ben said kindly.  
  
Eric stood. “I’m going to hit the shower. I should be mostly functional after that. We can drive you home.”  
  
Robert sighed in relief. “That would be great. Thank you.”  
  
He still had some trepidation about going back to places that were so familiar so soon, but Robert’s desire to know where he stood with Greg overrode his concerns.  



	5. Chapter 5

The sound of the doorbell clashed with the melancholy song Greg was playing on his piano. He knew he was being melodramatic, but he didn’t really care. He’d gone into the hospital that afternoon and generally stomped around and glared at people for a bit before giving it up as a lost cause and leaving. It wasn’t like they had any ongoing cases with most of their team gone for the last week. Now someone – probably Wilson – was there interrupting his quality time wallowing in self-pity.

He sighed and pounded once on the keys before standing and making his way to the door. The sight that greeted him on the other side was a surprise, to say the least.  
  
“Wombat. Didn’t expect to see you here,” Greg said after a moment of awkward silence. “Aren’t you supposed to be getting all figured out at the Albany Center?”  
  
“Did that. Bond was confirmed severed. Registered as a dormant guide. Came back to find you’d run off home without me.”   
  
Chase glared at him, and he felt a little bit of remorse at the way he’d left.  
  
“We didn’t finish our conversation.”  
  
Greg was confused. “What conversation?”  
  
“I’m not blind to what you did, you know.”  
  
Now Greg was getting a little concerned. “And what is it you think I did?”  
  
He thought he knew what was coming, and it had the potential to go really badly for him.  
  
“You admitted you were attracted to me,” Chase stated evenly. “And that leads me to believe that part of the reason you told me she was cheating was so you could conceivably have a chance with me.”  
  
Well, shit. Greg knew he should probably start backtracking and say something apologetic, but maybe that wasn’t the best move here. Chase came all the way to his apartment to tell him this. He wouldn’t have done it if he was simply expecting an apology. Maybe he wanted him to be – well, himself.   
  
Greg made his decision. “Oops. You got me, Bobby. So do I?”  
  
That clearly hadn’t been the response Chase had been expecting. “Do you what?”  
  
“Have a chance.”  
  
The ensuing silence felt like it stretched out at length between them, but really wasn’t more than a passing moment.   
  
Chase smiled. “Yes, you scheming, evil genius. You bloody well do.”  
  
Then soft lips were on his, and he realized Chase was kissing him. They both moved at the same time to step closer and embrace each other as the kiss deepened. After a few moments of nerve-tingling bliss, Greg’s higher brain functions reminded him whom he was kissing and why.

“I know I'm cock blocking myself here, but isn't this a little fast? Maybe you should take some time to get your head on straight.”

Chase huffed in annoyance. “Wow, I was really hoping you would be the narcissist I’ve come to know and love, and just fuck me. All this politely thinking of my best interests is giving me blue balls.”

That momentarily stopped Greg in his tracks. Had Chase just admitted indirectly to being in love with him? He found he wasn't completely repulsed by the idea. Yes, he'd been attracted to Bobby almost since he met the man, but he didn't really think much more into the future than that. He didn't exactly have a great relationship track record himself. Things had been going surprisingly well so far. Maybe the world owed him this one.

House smiled. “Aww, you love me Bobby-boo?”

“Maybe I do. Let's find out.”

Bobby pulled him in for another kiss that had heat pooling in Greg’s groin. He lost himself in the sensations for a while before forcibly pulling himself back with a groan once again.

“We don't have to do this now. You haven't really had much recovery time.” Greg cupped Bobby’s cheek gently as he spoke. “I waited this long. I can wait some more.”

That had apparently been the wrong thing to say because Bobby took a step back before angrily poking him in the chest.

“Fuck everyone and their opinions of what's best for me! Fuck time to heal! Fuck healthy and normal and every other term a psychiatrist would be throwing at me right now. I want this! I want you! For once I'm taking something for myself because it feels good. I really can't be bothered to think about it more deeply than that.

“I realized through all this that I changed my whole life for her. For my sentinel. I cut my hair short for her. We got the apartment she liked decorated how she liked. I wore sentinel-friendly clothes and used sentinel-friendly grooming products. I bowed to her every whim because I thought I was supposed to. That’s not me anymore. I’m not hers. I’m free to make my own choices for the first time in years, and I’m choosing you. Right now.”  
  
Bobby paused, glaring, out of breath and chest heaving. Greg thought he’d never looked hotter.  
  
“Okay,” Greg said quietly. “I want you too.”  
  
“Good,” Bobby huffed out as he stepped closer once again. “Let’s move this to the bedroom then.”  
  
Greg smiled and grabbed his hand, leading him quickly back to his room.

As soon as they were through the bedroom door, he turned and pulled Bobby in by the shoulders for an intense kiss. They both plainly wanted this, and the emotions of the moment pushed the urgency higher. Greg was overwhelmed by the softness of lips contrasted with the hard body under his hands, but then he came back to himself enough to start thinking through what they were doing. He wanted to give Bobby pleasure in ways he had probably been missing for a long time.  
  
As the moments passed, he slowed the kissing from their initial frenetic urgency. He didn’t want to give Bobby the impression that he was hesitating once again, so he brought his hands to the buttons on the other man’s shirt and slowly began to remove Bobby’s clothes. Hands reached to the hem of his own shirt, and they worked together to undress each other quickly.   
  
“Fuck, you’re gorgeous,” Greg breathed as he slipped his thumbs into the waistband of Bobby’s boxer briefs and slid them down his thighs.  
  
Bobby didn’t reply, but his face and neck flushed a soft red in response. Greg lightly prodded him in the direction of the bed and watched him gracefully climb on as he shed the rest of his own clothes. Looking at Bobby spread out before him, Greg couldn't help but reflect on how lucky he was, and he was not going to squander this gift of trust. He was going to give this man everything.   
  
That was a novel concept, putting someone else first, but House found it was easy with Bobby. Their relationship had always been one of give-and-take at work. Challenging each other and pushing each other. Now Greg was determined to make sure their personal relationship could be the same way: giving and taking of pleasure equally, giving and taking of trust equally.  
  
“Are you going to stand there staring all day, or are you going to fuck me?” Bobby asked huskily.  
  
Greg didn’t immediately answer in words. He simply walked to the side of the bed and sat down, running a hand up Bobby’s lightly-furred thigh as he did.  
  
“Don’t rush me now. I’m enjoying the view.”  
  
He turned and careful lay on his side next to the man sprawled on his back in the middle of the bed, and began running his hand over any skin he could reach. The occasional soft moan escaped as Bobby’s breathing got heavier. Greg soaked up every sigh. He needed more skin contact. Now. He rolled on top of Bobby, and they both gasped harshly as their cocks rubbed together.  
  
Greg had planned to open Bobby up slowly – fill him up and take him apart – but he was quickly losing control at finally being in contact with the man he had lusted after for so long, and feeling more connected to him than any lover before. He figured that came from the inherent trust he seemed to have in Bobby. He shifted his hips so their shafts lined up, and thrust. Bobby moaned into their kiss, clearly enjoying himself.  
  
They were both rolling their hips steadily now. Greg’s leg was getting sore though, so he rolled them to their sides to take the pressure off of it. He paused long enough to grab some lube out of the nightstand and coated his hand.

They came back together with a clash of lips and bodies. Bobby gasped loudly when Greg wrapped his hand around them both.

“That good, baby?”

Bobby chuckled. “Don't let it add to your substantial ego just yet.”

“Don’t you worry,” Greg said breathlessly as he thrust a little bit into his hand, the slide of their cocks together delicious and perfect in his grip. “I’ll get us there.”  
  
The problem was that it was very good for Greg, and he was worried he was going to embarrass himself if Bobby wasn’t on the same page. Unfettered access to miles of creamy skin and lean muscles that he’d been wanting but not able to touch for years had him on edge too quickly. Judging by the soft moans coming from his partner, though, he wasn’t alone in that state.   
  
It was only the matter of a few more thrusts and a twist of his wrist, and Bobby was coming with a startled gasp. Greg smiled and closed his eyes as he let go and let the building sensations finally take him over the edge too. Pleasure sang through his limbs, momentarily chasing away any pain and flooding his senses.  
  
They both rolled to their backs and lay panting side by side, quietly enjoying the moment.  
  
“Go get us a rag, Bobby.”  
  
Bobby huffed. “Why do I have to do it? I’m the guest here. You’re supposed to be wooing me.”  
  
“It’ll take me longer, and that means it will be longer until we get to the cuddly nap portion of the evening.”  
  
Bobby barked a laugh, but he got up and padded into the bathroom to find a washcloth. After they were relatively clean and had crawled under the covers, Greg found himself lazily stroking Bobby’s back as he lay with his head pillowed on Greg’s chest. He was content to just enjoy the moment, but just as he was dozing off Bobby spoke quietly.  
  
“It was so much easier. I wasn’t expecting that.”  
  
“What?” Greg asked groggily.  
  
“Sex. It was easier. I didn’t have to deal with anyone else in my head. I couldn’t feel anyone else’s emotions bleeding off on me. I could just be in the moment.” Bobby seemed utterly bewildered by the experience.  
  
“It should always be easy,” Greg replied quietly. “It should always be fun and feel good. It shouldn’t be something you have to work at for someone else’s pleasure.”  
  
They lapsed into silence once more, but Greg didn’t grow sleepy again. He had a feeling more was coming. After a few minutes, he was proven right.  
  
“I’m glad I’m not a guide anymore,” Bobby said with a slight waver in his voice.  
  
House felt a couple drops of moisture mingle on their skin.  
  
“Me too, Bobby.”  
  
\- - - - -  
  
Robert decided to go back to work the next week. It went surprisingly smoothly, and though he knew rumors were flying, he wasn’t hearing about it. They had started the hiring process to replace Cameron, but Greg hadn’t made any moves to interview anyone yet. Foreman was surprisingly easy going about them, considering he probably knew what they got up to in the on-call room when they had a bit of spare time.  
  
Robert hadn’t even protested the first time Greg had dragged him in there for a little mid-day break. He found he enjoyed sex more than he ever had before, and he figured that after his bond and relationship with Cameron collapsed so dramatically and publicly, he couldn’t ruin his reputation any further with a little indiscretion at work. The one thing that perplexed Robert in all this was Wilson.   
  
Greg hadn’t spoken to him since they came back to work, to his knowledge. In fact, Greg seemed to be actively avoiding his best friend. Robert didn’t have much time to worry about it though, because Wednesday evening, the doorbell rang in Greg’s apartment just after they finished demolishing some Indian take-out on the couch after a busy day.  
  
“Shit,” Greg said under his breath.  
  
“Do you know who it is?”  
  
Greg huffed. “Probably a certain meddling so-called best friend.”  
  
Robert sighed and began to clean up their supper mess. “Do you want me to go?”  
  
“What? No,” Greg snapped. “Besides, where would you even go?”  
  
Robert couldn’t hold in the wince at the reminder that he currently had no place to live. He wasn’t ever going back to the apartment he shared with her, and he’d been crashing at Greg’s place since they got back from up state. Granted that usually meant sleeping together in the same bed after incredibly hot sex, but he was still an unofficial squatter here.  
  
“I don’t know, but I can give you space. I should start looking for my own place anyway.”  
  
“Why?” Greg asked, perplexed. The doorbell rang again insistently.  
  
“What do you mean ‘why?.’ I’m not going back to that apartment, and I need a place to live,” Robert rolled his eyes at having to give the seemingly obvious answer.  
  
“I think all the sex we’ve been having is making you dumber. We should probably scale back so you don’t accidentally kill a patient at work.”  
  
“Excuse me?” Robert sputtered.  
  
“You can live here, dummy.” It was Greg’s turn to roll his eyes. “Wombats don’t require much space to exercise, anyway.”  
  
As Robert realized what Greg was saying to him, he felt a smile slowly spread across his face. He leaned in and grabbed the man’s face, kissing him hard. The doorbell ringing again registered in the background, but Robert was too busy licking inside Greg’s mouth to be bothered. Just when he was thinking about getting up to pull Greg back to the bedroom, they were rudely interrupted by the door clattering open.  
  
“Oh.”  
  
Robert pulled away quickly. Wilson had opened the apartment door to find them making out on the couch like teenagers. Well, that was sure to fix things between the two friends.  
  
“Ever heard of knocking, Jimmy?” Greg said with obvious irritation in his voice. “I didn't give you a key so you could cock block me. I just wanted you to water my plants that time.”

Wilson huffed. “I was ringing the doorbell for ten minutes.”

“Oops. Guess we were distracted,” Greg shot back with an expression that dared Wilson to challenge them.

Robert was felt like maybe they needed to have this conversation without him around, so he stood to leave.

“I can give you guys some privacy.”

“No way, my adorable wombat,” Greg grabbed his wrist as Robert took an aborted step away from the couch. “Sit that tight ass back down. Whatever Wilson came to say, he can say in front of you since I'm guessing you’re the subject anyway.”

Wilson sighed and sat down in the armchair. “Cameron caused quite the scandal at the hospital. The rumors have been flying.”

Greg scoffed. “Oh, you know you love it. You're the biggest gossip queen in the whole place.”

“Yeah, well you ran off with a guide who’s also your employee, and we didn't hear anything from you for a couple weeks. Now you're both back, the Center contacted Cuddy to say Chase is dormant and unbonded but still competent to practice S&G medicine, and, on top of all that, you're sleeping together!” Wilson panted as his rant ended.

They all sat in silence for a moment. Robert wasn't about to get in the middle of the two friends, so he waited to see who would break the silence first.

“So?” Greg finally asked.

“So?! So? That's all you have to say for yourself?” Wilson sputtered. “If I'm connecting the dots correctly, and I think I am, don't you think you're taking advantage of the situation?!”

Wilson stood and started pacing.

“I had no idea Chase even liked working for you, much less actually liked you as a person, and now you've, what? Suddenly fallen into bed together after his sentinel betrays him like some romance novel?”

Greg stood and stopped in Wilson’s path.

“He likes me because if I ever want to fuck anyone else, I'll tell him first. So far there hasn't been anyone I've come across to match him in terms of intelligence and pure twinky sex appeal, so it's a non-issue. Not that it's any of your business, James.”

They stood toe to toe in a tense standoff.

Robert didn't want this to fracture their friendship, so he finally stuck his nose in.

“I think I'm too old to be considered a twink, Greg.”

Greg laughed and broke his stare with Wilson to sit back down on the couch, patting the seat next to him for Robert to join him.

“Whatever you say, pookums. Get over here,” Greg made an exaggerated kissy face at him to punctuate his demand.

Wilson sighed and sat down again. Once they were all settled he looked directly at Robert.

“You're okay? He's not coercing you or something?”

Robert sighed. “I'm getting there. Turns out my bond was more unhealthy than I realized when I was in it, and it's going to take a while to get over that. But I got some good help, and now I have Greg, which was a surprising, though pleasant, development .”

Wilson seemed to study him a moment longer.

“Okay.”

“Okay, then,” Greg replied as he sat back and clapped his hands together once. “Well, since you're on board with the love fest now, want to help us move Bobby in this weekend?”

Wilson was instantly back to looking as shocked as when he'd first opened the door, and Greg looked smug. Robert just laughed. This was more than he had dared hoped for when he felt that tether to his sentinel break forever. Yeah, he really was getting better.


End file.
